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The government has announced new export trade finances initiatives as part of its strategy to re-generate strong, sustainable and balanced growth in the UK.
Outlining details of the trade white paper, business secretary Vince Cable set out how the government will try and "turn around trade and investment".
In a statement to the Commons, Cable said the UK had "consumed too much and exported too little" in the last few decades - and with Germany now exporting over three times as much as Britain it was "vital to turn this around".
The business secretary announced a new range of finance and insurance products as part of a Trade and Investment White Paper aimed at helping small and medium enterprises to export more goods overseas.
He told MPs: "This White Paper sets out an ambitious direction for the UK, it will guide the government's work on trade and investment.
"We will implement it vigorously and actively and I urge British businesses to seize the opportunities it will present. That way we will all benefit from the vision it sets out - an open trading system and a competitive British economy providing jobs and growth."
Cable said SMEs were "much less engaged in trade than bigger companies".
He said: "They've told us they want to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in emerging markets but can't always access the trade credit insurance and finance to take the risk.
"Since the economic crisis, they feel it's become much harder to get cover from private insurers at reasonable rates."
The department will set up an Export Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme which will provide export finance valued at up to £1m to SMEs, he said.
A new bond support scheme will also be set up for exporters, under which the government will share risk with lending banks on the issue of contract bonds
Cable told the chamber the government wanted to finish the Doha round, as it could bring a £110bn boost to the global economy.
"We spent 10 years negotiating and we now need urgent action to agree the key elements of the Doha deal this year," he said.
Other measures included in the white paper were ways to work with other EU members states to improve trade potential.
In response, shadow business secretary John Denham welcomed the "broad thrust" of the statement.
However he waned that exports were not sufficient without a "credible" plan for growth.
He said: "Can I remind you that exports alone will not deliver without a credible plan for growth across our economy? Putting new tyres on the car won't make it perform better if the engine hasn't been fixed."
Denham also said the coalitions "reckless approach" to deficit reduction is damaging the prospects for growth and fro jobs.
The shadow business secretary said Pfizer's decision to close its research facility in Kent sent a "chilling message" to ministers.
Denham asked: "How much more investment will we lose before this complacent government produces a credible plan for growth?"
Cable said the reduction in Britain's manufacturing sector begun under Labour.
"The decline in manufacturing in the UK economy from 20 per cent to 12 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) was far in excess of any other developed country," he said.
"That's the rebalancing problem we are now trying to address."
On Pfizer, Cable said he had chaired a task force earlier today which he hoped would minimise job losses and "mobilise other pharmaceutical companies".
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